In every relationship, particulary when you’ve just married, things might be a bit tricky at first. For some it’s the happiest period of their lives but for others, it can be the hardest time as well because things are not stable enough so there’s a few problems here and there. In marriage things can go either way and sometimes it can even go both ways. It’s good at first but gone bad all of the sudden as the relationship progress.

Just like planes, marriage can be critical as well. This movie title was taken from terms Critical Eleven which is the most crucial time during the flight of each aeroplane. This begins from 3 minutes after take off and 8 minutes before landing. And the terms Critical Eleven really sums up the story you’re going to watch in this movie. It’s the most critical times in early stage of marriage.

Critical Eleven tells a story about Ale played by Reza Rahadian that met Anya played by Adinia Wirasti in a flight from Jakarta to Sidney. They met on the plane and after the meeting, they eventually forms a romantic relationship and finally getting married. That’s just the happy part of the story. The rest of the movie feels really different than the first twenty minutes of the movie.

In short, their happy marriage falls apart after Anya had miscarriage. And things started to get even more depressing as their relationship are getting worse and worse. Adapted from best selling novel of the same name, this movie feels more grounded to reality although a few cliché were still there and you can notice it in certain parts.  But the actors honestly make me forget about all that because they were amazing! They really stands out!

Both Reza and Adinia gave a very great performances. They both really lovely as a couple and they both really sweet together. They carry this movie altogether and they make me really feel their struggles. For girls they will wish that Ale exist in real life and for man, I think they will probably wish they’re Ale. They’ve done their best to play the characters and I do wish they were dating in real life because their chemistry is so good!

I like the way they framed the story in this movie. First half of the movie is the happy part, and then things started to shift little by little. As we attached to both characters, things were just getting worse and worse making us really hope they will survive their marriage. It tells a very good lesson specially for those who wishes to get married soon.

One thing I don’t like about this movie is the pacing. A few minutes in, the pace seems sloppy as if they wanted Ale and Anya to be together as quickly as they can. As a result we don’t really know much from both characters when the movie begins. All we know is the generic information that didn’t really distinguish the characters from any other movie. In fact I can’t quite grasp their characters until midway point of the movie, and that is a very big problem in their story design.

Maybe for people that read the books they can understand the characters, but for me that didn’t read it? There are also a few plot point that feels kinda rush for me. Although they made it up in the second half of the movie as the story getting better as they reach the climax. I still think that the choices the characters made kinda simplistic just like typical drama tropes.

For me, this movie is sweet and very lovely, I love the cast, but their characters seems a bit simplistic sadly. It still didn’t make them stand out among  other dramas. If it wasn’t Reza and Adinia, I’m sure it would be way more cheesy and feels like any other drama. And the dialog is not really special, in fact in a few scenes it feels kinda cheesy for me.

But despite my criticism, I still I appreciate the story and the movie. I do think they make a decent drama and an enjoyable movie. I still can enjoy it. This is not a perfect movie but at least it gave us a glimpse of “critical eleven” in marriage. And did Anya and Ale survive? Well I think you should watch it if you want to know the answer!

If you talk about the superheroes, you probably will say Spiderman, Captain America or Iron Man. That’s a very understandable answer specially because they’re The Avengers and Marvel films specificly has made a name of themselves by making  a good superhero flicks. Now if you like comic books, you know that Marvel is not the only  comic books that produces a great hero. DC on the other hand also have a lot of superheroes. But sadly, over the years, their DC EU movies are trashed by the critics and were divided by their own fans and audience.

If you look at the rating and critics, Wonder Woman probably is the most successful films of DC in recent years. But that’s not enough to compete with Marvel Cinematic Universes so DC needs to make up their own team to deal with The Avengers. So they come up with Justice League. This film was previously directed by Zack Snyder before he step out and being replaced by Joss Weedon. Although being through some difficulties and production problems, finally Justice League was released in 2017.

Justice League continues the story after Batman v Superman as Batman and Wonder Woman trying to assemble the team in this film. The entourage consist of aquaman, cyborg, and also the flash. In the movie, they have to face Steppenwolf that wanted to take over the earth by unifying the energy of three mother boxes. As a story, this doesn’t really stand out and to be honest was quite a generic one.

The movie surprisingly were pretty good, enjoyable, and the most important thing is : short. The duration is only about 2 hours, not 2,5 hours like Batman  v Superman so the duration was way shorter. Although it’s also become the main problem of the movie. Duration makes this movie feels very rushed. There are a lot of scenes that seems incomplete.

I think it may occurred because they’ve changed directors in the middle of production so they have to reshoot or even deleted some key part of the story. Not to mention, Henry Cavill’s CGI mouth. That’s a huge problem because it really makes the story uneven. It’s like I’m watching a series of montages without a paid off in the end. I know a lot of people hate CGI villain and this time, I do really hate steppenwolf. He’s just a generic villain with no clear motivation.

I feel more scared of superman’s power. In the middle of the movie, there’s a scene where all of them fighting Superman and all of them were defeated, it’s like he’s a god! And the worst part of the movie is batman. I didn’t blame it on Afleck’s performance. He’s a great batman, and I love him in the Batman v Superman, he’s literally the best thing from that movie. But in this one, he’s the worst. It’s been established that batman’s power is his wealth, and has become a running joke in the movie but that’s it.

We didn’t see him do anything substantial or meaningfull. He’s useless compare to other member who had superpowers. Despite all of the criticism, I’m sure a fanatic comicbook fan would say that this movie is better in Snyder cut version or whatever. But I really think this is a very strong reminder to Warner Bros and DC. They can’t treat their properties like this. As a moviegoers I don’t care if this film even had 100 versions of cut. If it’s not good enough, it would not be good enough.

And I have to say, it’s an enjoyable time watching this movie. I still can enjoy it but it didn’t do anything better than their previous attempts. Apart from Wonder Woman, DC EU sadly needs a lot more work to do if they wanted to compete with MCU. Watching this movie is like eating a very good looking tenderloin, but when you slice in the middle, it’s raw. If you like “rare” meat maybe you’ll eat it but if you don’t like it, you’re not going to eat it.

At the end of the day, Justice League is not an improvement nor the worst DC EU movies. Justice League just simply have less problems than DC EU previous films. If they wanted to be a serious contender to MCU, they have to fix their core problems specially their characters and their story.  By then, maybe we could’ve hope there will be a time when DC EU actually beat MCU superheroes.

These days, superhero genre has become one of the most profitable movies of all time. With such a high demand for superhero movies, studios executives were racing to produce brand new superhero everytime. Over the years we watch at least one or two superhero released each year. From the terrible ones like Fan4tastic to great ones like Avengers. Last year, one superhero movie rise above the rest to be one of the best films of 2017. It really gave the fans a beautiful farewell to the character.

It’s the wolverine origin story titled Logan. Let’s be honest here, X men universe has going through ups and downs, sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s not so good. But this one? Well, it’s so good, even the fanboys worship the movie! One of the reason why is because this film ends Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a rather spectaculan fashion. This is a wolverine movie unlike any other previous one.

Logan tell a story about Logan aka Wolverine in the year 2029 where the mutant species was on the verge of extinction because in 25 years, there’s no new born mutant. Logan worked as a limo driver in Texas as his  healing power has weakened and he’s getting old. He lives with Caliban (another mutant) and ageing Charles Xavier. One day, a former nurse of biotechnology corporation hire Logan to escort an 11 year old girl named Laura to Eden a refuge in North Dakota. At first Logan didn’t want to do it but he agreed eventually.

Things started to get interesting as they were chased by a cyborg named Donald Pierce and they eventually discovers that Laura is actually a mutant too. It’s a thrilling ride and journey to watch this movie specially if you’re a comic book fan. This movie also doesn’t shy away from violence and blood because it’s rated R. So if you’re really into that stuff, I’m sure you’re going to love it. What’s so surprising for me is the depiction of our lead character Logan. I mean it really take balls  for the studio to greenlit such a movie and it’s well worth it! As a result, they make a very unique take on superhero genre.

As an audience you wouldn’t feel like you’re watching a superhero movie. I feel like I was just watching an ordinary movie with wolverine in it. That’s a good thing because this actually make us more relateable to the character. They make us really care for Logan so in the end of the movie, the farewell feels really touching and we’re going to miss Hugh Jackman. I never thought I could feel that way in a superhero movie.

It’s quite a gloomy movie with an action spectacle that always make you alert and watch the screen. It’s one part tragedy and depressing but on the other part it’s an action packed superhero movie. It’s like swalowing a very bitter pills but you drink it up with coca cola. Don’t try this at home by the way, but that’s just a way for me to describe this movie. On the core of the movie, it’s very pessimistic and depressing but we also watch quite a lot of fun on it so in a way it’s a bittersweet tragedy.

One thing I don’t like about this movie is the villain. I know it’s very hard to make a good villain. I get it. But Donald Pierce as a villain in this movie didn’t really shine to make me scared. For me his presence is just a mere formality. I could relate to logan’s journey and inner turmoil but Donald Pierce could have been stronger as a character.

In the end this movie is amazing! I’m sure there are a lot of you who love this movie. Even some people consider this movie were snubbed by the Oscar this year. Me personaly, I wouldn’t go that far but I do really think this is a solid superhero movie. A very refreshing take on the genre and this would open up another R rated superhero movie in the future. I’m not going to spoil anything for the end of the movie, but I think if this is the last time we’ve ever gonna see Wolverine, that’s a proper farewell for him. So go watch it yourself to see wolverine the last time on screen.

Horor movies was proven to be one of the best genre when it comes to box office and provits. Over the years in Hollywood we watched some of the good flicks such as paranormal activity, insidious, the blairwitch project etc. So is Indonesian horror. They’ve proven to be great when it comes to generating money, but the quality? Not so much. I mean, Indonesian horror was filled with softcore terrible sexy heroine in their movies or even combine it with comedy which makes it worst and hard to watch.

If you’re Indonesian, you know the horror genre oftenly missed by the audience because the quality is so bad. I do mean really really bad. Although Indonesia is one of the country where we could found a wide range variety of ghosts, we haven’t watched a great Indonesian horror movies recently. In early 2000’s, there’s Tusuk Jalangkung and it’s super scary. But 2010’s not many horrors got our attention that much.

But Satan’s Slave, or Pengabdi Setan surprisingly generated a very huge hype with the audience last year. To be honest I’m not a fan of horror movies because I never feel so scared in the theatres while watching it. At best, I felt kinda surprised when the jumpscare comes. But when it comes to this movie, it sounds pretty promising. It was made by Joko Anwar, and the trailer looks fantastic for Indonesian horror flicks.

This movie is a remake of the 1980’s movie with the same name which was a pretty great cult horror Indonesian movies. It tells a story about a downfall of the family in 1980’s. The Mom who used to be a singer suffered a very mysterious ill for three years and finally died. As a result, the family live in debt and now they live in grandma’s house. One day the ghost of their mom comes to their family and things started to build up from there. Later in the movie we discovered that the mom has joined a cult and involved with a very dangerous people.

The story is pretty great and it’s quite unexpected. Watching this movie is like entering a haunted house and get out with a smile on your face. You’ve already seen the ghost inside the house and once you get out from there all you wanted to do is to brag with your friends how cool that was. Okay, maybe not a great example to sum this movie. But honestly, that’s what I feel.

Joko Anwar is a great director, and when you watched his movies recently, you can tell that he really wanted to make a this kinda movies. Halfworlds in HBO, Modus Anomali, Pintu Terlarang, now Satan’s Slave. You can tell that he really belongs to make this movie. It’s like you’ve taste a pizza from pizza specialist. It taste really good because the chef really loves pizza and you can taste every passion in each and every bite. Same thing goes with this movie.

I can easily tell that he really enjoy making this movie. The acting was great, and one of my favorites is the ghost in this movie. At the climax near the end, we can watch the hous was invaded by them and it was super cool. The only thing I hate is how short the sequence was. I mean I really enjoy it and I really wanted more. It’s like I ride a roller coaster, but once it ends, I wanted to ride it again with a higher speed or higher more extreme tracks.

This movie doesn’t just rely on jumscares, but also explores the mythology and the Indonesian ghost with a mix from fresh perspective which makes it more engaging to watch. I’m not saying that this was the greatest horror movies ever made, but I’m saying this is a movie worth to watch. It’s not perfect and you can spot a few drawbacks here and there. But for Indonesian horror movies, it’s a good step since we didn’t watch so many movies like this.

At the end of the day you may ask didn’t this movie scarier than the original? Maybe not. Didn’t it sticks to the original storyline? Maybe not. But let’s be real here, why bother to make it like that if you can make it your own? And I think that’s what Joko Anwar did. And he did it really good. I think he would do a sequel out of this and that’s what I really wanted to see. So let’s wait and see that happen soon!

Over the years, Oscar’s best picture was kinda predictable. Even most of their nominee almost always a period piece or a biopic. But a few years back, Oscar seems to shifts out of their trends by making a few exception including last year when La La Land mistakenly took the Oscar for Moonlight. That’s a very great surprise and it’s hilarious. So when the 2018 Oscar approaching, I expect another shocking winners, and they surprise me again. The Shape of Water won best picture!

It’s shocking really, I mean Oscar never give the best picture to sci fi before so I didn’t see this coming. I thought three billboards would’ve won, but instead they make a  bold choice by chosing Guillermo Del Toro’s fish/human romance. So you might wonder what makes this movie won best picture at Oscar? Well, there are plently of reasons. And some say the movie is fueled with social commentary and very suitable with today’s community especially in America. That’s one of the reasons.

But I think it’s just a damn good movie! The reason is simply : it’s a good movie! Let’s think about it for a second. In paper this movie is so bizzare, I don’t think anyone with a straight mind would greenlit this. I’m not even sure what Del Toro have to say to his producer to produce this movie. Even when I heard the premise of the movie for the first time, I cringe and I thought this was very artsy weird monster movie. But when I watched it, I kinda like it actually.

Sure it’s kinda weird sometimes, especially when you describes how you have sex with a fish. (seriously, go watch it yourself) But overall it’s a great gorgeous monster movie romance! To be honest I’m not a fan of Del Toro, I mean I watched a few of his films, but monsters and weird creatures was never really my favorites. So I didn’t really expect that much before I watch this movie.

This movie tells a story about Elisa, a mute lonely janitor who worked in 1960’s research facility that fell in love with an amphibious fishy creature that’s been held in captivity. If you think that’s weird, wait till you watch the movie. It opens with Elisa masturbated in her bathtub using an egg timer. I think it’s a deliberate choice from Del Toro to introduce the character and there’s an implicit meaning behind it but that’s still one of the weirdest opening scene ever.

Anyway, we follow our lead character Elisa played by Sally Hawkins to the research facility and then things started to get more interesting. There, she met this creatures who’s very unique and somehow can feel her and even communicating with her. As the movie progresses she wanted to save the creatures because Michael Shannon’s character wanted him to be dead.

If you think about it and you look deeper beneath all of this monster thingy façade, it really tells you something. After all, it’s an artsy movie and it tells you more each time you rewatch it. It’s not a heavy movie but it takes more effort to appreciate it. You have to embrace the uniqueness of this movie if you wanted to feel it. And once you do that, this would be a meaningful journey for you.

So you gotta be prepared before watching this movie. Who knows what you got after watching this movie. Maybe it does tell us about love more than conventional love story?  I don’t know. But for me, watching this movie is like eating ice cream as a topping of a pizza. It looks weird but when you taste it, you can taste the sweetness of ice cream as well as the juicy pizza breads at the same time.

As for the technical element of this movie I can sum it all up in one sentence : I’ts amazing. The cinematograpy is great, the production design, the acting and everything else looks stunning as well as beautiful. It really deserves all of the attention and best picture nod from the Oscar. It’s a bit weird but it’s a beautiful movie with so much to say. More importantly, you gotta respect Del Toro’s vision specially after he made that moving speech at Oscar. He’s the prove that we could all reach our dreams and vision one day just like he is. I salute you sir! Well done! Well done indeed!